Once my father asked me to hold his hammer while he repaired something, so we could have some time to talk to each other.
For 22 years, after I left home for college, he called me every Sunday at 9 am. He was always interested in my life and how my family was doing, and I never once heard him complain about his own life.
Nine years ago when I bought my first house, my father, 67 years old, spent eight hours a day painting it for three days. He would not allow me to pay someone to have it done. All he asked for was a glass of iced tea and for me to hold a paint brush for him and talk to him. But I was too busy.
Five years ago, at age 71, my father spent five hours putting together a swingset (秋千组) for my daughter. Again, all he asked was that I get him a glass of iced tea and talk to him. But again, I was too busy.
Four years ago, my father drove all the way from Denver to Topeka, with an eight-foot Colorado blue spruce (蓝叶云杉) in his trunk, so that my husband and I could have a part of Colorado growing on our land. I was preparing for a trip that weekend and couldn’t spend much time with him.
Then, one day, my father telephoned me as usual, this time from my sister’s home in Florida. We talked about the tree he had brought me, “Fat Albert”, but that morning he called it “Fat Oscar”, and he seemed to have forgotten some things. I had to get to church, so I cut the conversation short.
The call came at 4:40 pm that day: my father was in hospital in Florida with an aneurysm (动脉瘤). I got on a plane immediately, and on the way I thought of all the times I had not taken the time to talk to my father. I realized that I had no idea who he was or what his deepest thoughts were. I promised that when I arrived, I would make up for lost time.
I arrived in Florida at 1 am. My father had passed away at 9:12 pm. This time it was he who did not have time to talk to me.
【小题1】Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

As my friend was passing some elephants，he suddenly stopped．He was confused by the fact that these huge animals were being held by nothing but a small rope．The rope was tied to their front legs． It was       that the elephants could break away from the ropes at any time．But for some         ，they did not．
My friend saw a trainer nearby and asked why these elephants just stood there and didn't        to get away．
“Well，” he said，“when they are very           and much smaller，we use the same size rope to tie them．At that age，it's enough to hold them．As they grow up，they are used to         that they cannot break away．They believe the rope can       hold them，so they never try to break free．”
My friend was amazed．These animals could at any time break free，      because they believed they couldn't，they were stuck right where they were．
Like the elephants，how many of us go       life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something，simply because we      at it once before? How many of us are being held back by old，outdated        that no longer serve us?

A famous study was done in a school by a professor from a university. At the start of the school year, the teachers were given the names of five children. They were told that these five were the most excellent students in the class. But the fact was that these students were only average，and they were not the best students at all. Well, guess what? At the end of the year, all the five average students scored among the highest in the class.
　What made these average students change so much to become top students？The only difference was the change in their teachers’ attitude. Because the teachers believed that these five kids were the top students，they expected more from them. And so these five average students began to believe and expect more from themselves. So they worked harder to do as well as they could.
　Do you know why? If you expect the best from people, they’ll usually want to give you their best. A great leader said, “Treat a person just how he appears to be on the outside, and you’ll make him even worse. But treat a person like he’s already a success，and you’ll help make him the best he can be.”
　Like the true story of 7-year-old Johnny, his teacher got so angry with him that one day she said，“Johnny，you’re the naughtiest boy in this class. I’m sure you’ll never change.” The next year Johnny had a new teacher. And on the first day of class，she met with Johnny after school and said，“Johnny, I’ve heard a lot about you! But do you know that I don’t believe a word of it.” And every day after that, this new teacher treated Johnny as if he was one of the smartest students even when Johnny did naughty things. Later on, Johnny became a school leader. Because that’s the power of our belief and attitude toward children.
【小题1】The professor started his research by _______.

Lester was walking in the street with two huge and heavy suitcases. A stranger walked up to him and asked ,“Have you got the time ?”
Lester stopped , put down the suitcases and looked at his watch .“It’ s five fifteen ,”he said .
“Hey , what a nice watch !”said the stranger .
Lester smiled a little and said ,“Yes , it’ s not bad . Look at this .”Then he showed the stranger a time display for the 86 largest cities in the world .
He hit a few buttons（按钮）and a voice told the time in Chinese . Lester continued ,“Its voice can be set（设置）for different languages .”
The stranger seemed very interested in the watch .
“That’ s not all ,”said Lester . He then pushed a few more buttons and a small map appeared on the watch .“The map can show where we are ,”explained Lester .
“I want to buy this watch !”said the stranger .
“Oh , no , I’ m not selling it . I have spent nearly two years making it ,”said Lester .
“I’ ll give you $ 1,000 for it !”
“Oh , no , I’ ve already spent more than that .”
“I’ ll give you $ 5,000 for it !”
Lester stopped to think . The stranger quickly gave him a check（支票）and said ,“$ 5,000 . Here it is .”
Lester finally agreed to sell the watch . When the stranger was going to leave with the watch , Lester pointed to the two huge suitcases and said ,“Hey , wait a minute . Don’ t forget your batteries .”
【小题1】Lester stopped in the street because _____ .

Twenty years ago, I drove a taxi for a living. One night I went to pick up a passenger at 2:30 AM. When I arrived there, I walked to the door and knocked, “Just a minute,” answered a weak, elderly voice.
After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her eighties stood before me. By her side was a small suitcase.
When we got into the taxi, she gave me an address, and then asked, “Could you drive through downtown?”
“It’s not the shortest way,” I answered quickly.
“Oh, I’m in no hurry,” she said. “I’m on my way to a hospice(临终医院). I don’t have any family left. The doctor says I don’t have very long.”
I quietly reached over and shut off the meter(计价器).
For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked, the neighborhood where she had lived, and the furniture shop that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.
Sometimes she’d ask me to slow down in front of a special building and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.
In the early morning, she suddenly said,” I’m tired. Let’s go now.”
We drove in silence to the address she had given me.
“How much do I pay you?” she asked.
“Nothing.” I said.
“You have to make a living,” she answered. “Oh, there are other passengers,” I answered.
Almost without thinking, I gave her a hug(拥抱). She held on me and said, “You gave an old woman a little moment of joy.”
【小题1】The old woman chose to ride through the city in order to ______.

阅读下面短文，根据要求完成下列各题。
It was December 25. Marie, a 13-year-old Australian girl, was happy. It was Christmas, and Marie's mother was making a special cake. She put four small coins into the cake,  and then she baked (烤) it. The four coins were for good luck. After dinner Marie and her family ate the cake. They found three coins in the cake and put them on the table. Where was the fourth coin? It was missing, but Marie's mother didn't notice.
After Christmas, Marie got sick. She coughed, and she couldn’t speak. After six weeks she felt better, but she still couldn't speak. Marie's parents took her to hospital. Doctors at the hospital looked her over, and then said, "We are sorry, but we can't help her." For 12 years Marie didn't speak. She grew up, she got a job, and she got married. But she never spoke. One day,  when Marie was 25 years old,  she got a sore throat ( 嗓子疼 ) at work. She began to cough. She coughed up something small and black. What was it? Marie didn't know. She took it to the hospital. A doctor at the hospital said, "This is a coin!" The doctor told Marie, "I think you can speak again." Marie went to a special doctor, and soon she could talk.
根据上面短文的内容回答问题。
【小题1】What did Marie's mother make at Christmas?
__________________________________________________________
【小题2】What did Marie's mother put some coins in the cake for? 
__________________________________________________________
【小题3】 How many coins did Marie's family find after eating the Cake?
___________________________________________________________
【小题4】How long didn’t Marie speak?
__________________________________________________________
【小题5】Could Marie speak at last?
__________________________________________________________

America is a mobile society. Friendships between Americans can be close and real, yet disappear soon. They don’t feel hurt. If the same two people meet again, even years later, they pick up the friendship. This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand. Friendships between us develop more slowly but may become lifelong (终身的)feelings, extending (延伸) deeply into both families.
There is another difficult point for us to understand. Although Americans treat friends warmly in their personal everyday lives, they don't show their politeness to them if it requires a great deal of time. But in China, we are usually generous with our time. We, as hosts, will appear at an airport even in the middle of the night to meet a friend. We may take a day off from our work to act as guides to our friends: It is opposite in America, Americans can not manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily plans. They will probably expect the visitors to get themselves from the airport to the hotels. And they expect the visitors will phone them from there. Once the visitors arrive at their homes, the welcome will be full, warm and real.
For Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to restaurants, except for business matters. Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes, share their holidays, and their home life. So accept their hospitality (好客) at home and enjoy your visit in America! 
【小题1】The underlined phrase “pick up”in Paragraph 1 may mean“_____”. 

How can we improve our life? Many people think that they have to accept whatever life throws at them. They’ll say, “this is my destiny (命运). I cannot change it.”
Certainly not! You don’t have to suffer too much. Your destiny depends on yourself, not on any other factors.
I know someone who says she just accepts what life gives her because she has done everything she can to improve it. Guess what her lifestyle is? She wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes back home, relaxes, chats with people, watches TV, then goes to sleep. Next day, the same routine cycle follows. Huh! Is this what she calls “doing her best”? She believes she has tried her best. But in fact she hasn’t.
Remember that you get what you pay. You just don’t sit around and wait for a million dollars to fall from the sky. You have to get off the couch, get your eyes off the TV screen, get your hands off the phone. Don’t expect your luck to change unless you do something about it. If something goes wrong, don’t just regard it as a little failure, but use it as feedback (反馈). Learn your lesson, make the most of the situation, and do something to solve the problem. It’s not enough to think positively (积极地), you also have to act positively.
If someone’s life is in the trouble, do you just hope that things will turn out fine? Of course not! You get to do anything you can to save the person. So it is with your own life. It is not enough to hope for the best, but you have to do your best. In other words, don’t just stand (or sit) there, do something to improve your life.
【小题1】The writer’s attitude towards destiny is that ________.

I live with my grandmother in a Beijing yard house. One day last year, （1）我惊讶的看到一个外国人从我家隔壁的房子里出来. He was very tall with short brown hair and a pair of glasses. The first time I saw him, （2）I was too shy to speak to him. “My English is too bad！”I thought. My grandmother told me that he had just moved into our yard. “I don’t like it!” she said, "Foreigners aren't like us. Maybe he’ll play loud music and have parties every night! I' m sure he’s going to cause trouble."
Several days later, I met the foreigner as I was walking home after work. "Hello!" he said in Chinese! "My name's Tony. I've just moved into the house next door to yours. “While I was wondering what to say, he continued, "There's a nice bar down the road. Why don’t you and your family come to the bar and have dinner with me? “Bars are bad places," said my grandmother when I told her, but we decided to go. （3）The bar was not at all what I had expected. It was in a beautiful little yard house, with several large bookshelves and pictures of Tibet on the walls. Several Chinese people and foreigners were sitting drinking or reading books. I noticed that some of the foreigners were speaking reading books. I noticed that some of the foreigners were speaking place.
The bar served special "hutong pizzas". As we ate, Tony told us about himself—he is an English expert (专家) in environment. He always likes to be quiet. My grandmother said to me, “He really seems like a very nice young man.” Yes, Tony is my new neighbor, a nice foreigner.
阅读短文，按要求完成下面的任务。
【小题1】把1处的汉语译为英语。
【小题2】把2处改为同义句。
【小题3】把3处的英语译为中文。
【小题4】What did the writer’s grandmother think of Tony at first?
【小题5】给短文拟一个标题。

Once upon a time all feelings went to an island for a vacation, and each was having a good time. Suddenly, a warning of a strong storm was announced ,so all rushed to their boats. Yet, Love did not wish to run away quickly. There was so much to do. But as the clouds darkened, Love realized it was time to leave. But there were no boats to spare. Love looked around with hope.
Just then Richness was passing by Love in a grand boat. Love shouted, "Richness, can you take me with you?" Richness answered, "No, I can't. There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat. There is no place here for you."
Love decided to ask Vanity(虚荣) who was also passing by in a beautiful boat for help, But Vanity said with a cold voice, “No, I can’t take you with me. My boat will get dirty with your mummy feet.”
Sorrow passed by after some time. Again, Love asked for help. But it was useless. “No, I can’t take you with me. I am so sad. I want to be by myself.”
When Happiness passed by a few minutes later, Love again called for help. But Happiness was so happy that it hardly concerned about anyone else.
Love was growing restless and hopeless. Just then somebody called out, “Come, Love, I will take you with me.” Love did not know who was being so kind, but jumped onto the boat happily.
After getting off the boat, Love met Knowledge. Love asked, “Knowledge, do you know who was so kind to give me a lift when no one else wished to help?”
Knowledge smiled, "Oh, that was Time,"
"Time?" asked Love. "But why did Time help me?" Knowledge smiled with deep wisdom and answered, "Because only Time is capable of understanding how valuable Love is."
【小题1】According to the passage, which one did not go to an island for a vacation?